Family History Delivers Ugly Cries, Spitting Laughter

Maybe just maybe, I was expecting less from this project... but they delivered.

Albeit no stranger in front and at the back of the camera, Michael V has stretched feathers among his many hats to be a real life Producer, Director, Writer and Actor for this film called Family History. I have never, been ever, effectively been confused about my feelings while watching a film because as soon as the hospital scenes started (oh that'll be early), I was already trying to stop myself from totally balling in the dark because I didn't want people to see me crying. 

This is a family film - of sorts, ideal in one side... but totally flawed on the next one. I know while you're reading that you're already getting confused, but trust me, it's because the twist in this film would just be making you even more insecure about your judgement about their characters, neither did they.

I initially thought I would be bored about a family drama, but it wasn’t even a few seconds into the film and people were giggling. Michael V and Ms. Dawn were definitely in a class of their own. Heck I can already say Dawn Zulueta can read a phonebook in a scene and still make you do ugly cry, she’s that good and she did that in several sequences. - undoubtedly, she is an icon! 

Michael V on the other hand could stand serious and unfazed with reality in one scene, but stamps his kind of comedy. He is definitely an authority, how can you not be impressed with the very talented Bitoy, who up to this moment I’ve lost count on figuring out how many times he’s transformed into different characters. You will see that happen here so many times. The movie might come off to you as clear, with very nice treatment and color grading but injects several graphics to denote out of this world reactions to everyday struggles. It was a secret nobody knew would happen, and that part was totally effective especially when he was talking to his boss and best man. 

A word of warning, there will be continuous flashbacks, and it is necessary. It gives you a backgrounder on why and how they ended up that way, so you too could understand how characters work. 

It is an awesome film with realistic, heart wrenching situations. If there's a takeaway from this movie, it's the capacity of the human heart to forgive and how to love without condiions (or is it?). Now I suggest you go find yourself some good cinema seats and be awed by how Michael V creates his first mainstream movie with effective artists and make you feel crazy. Hope you’ll end up crying and laughing at the same time, just like me when I was watching it. In the meantime, I didn't want to waste time so here are some of the celebrities that graced the event that afternoon.

I also have huge urge on what ideal movies to watch, this is one nice story. 

Worth every penny, because they over delivered. You'll leave the dark halls hopeful - and happy.

Taiwan Excellence Showcases Best To Inspire Philippines

Taiwan Excellence just concluded their presentation at the ASIA IOT Business Platform conference at the Mariott Hotel in Manila, Philippines.

Taiwan has been regarded as a leader in the ICT sector, proudly serving the global companies (Apple, Google, Microsoft) and their supply chains for years now. In Telco, retail, business, industries, even AI and IoT, they’ve practically done it all and places a significant part in production of the world's best tech devices. Wireless or otherwise.

Clement Chen the Director of TECO in Manila says “We invited companies to briefly introduce what Taiwan Excellence is all about as authorized by the ministry of Taiwan. We bring only the cream of the crop, seeing this seal only means that. Thank you for gracing our presentation.”

Mr. Wen Chung Chan the Director of the Economic Division of TECO in Manila says “The Philippines is one of the largest population and is continually growing. The need for greener and more climate healthy cities is also increasing and Taiwan fits to inspire the Philippines in industrial development. The AI sector in Taiwan has been highly recognized and the Taiwanese companies offer innovation and ideas for future solutions. We want to also introduce brands that have our seal, successful in their own right and has passed strict standards to be able to hold that.”

IOT Lighting Solutions

Accton Technology Corporation’s Arnold Dimayuga says “We are in the ODM manufacturing and design industry based in Taiwan and has offices in China. We have wireless solutions, power over ethernet, management and even a smart lighting control system which are cloud based. You may check Accton.com for more information.”

Smart Storage Solutions

Apacer Technology Inc’s Mike Wang says “It is our first time to be here, we are very glad to participate this year. We have subsidiaries around the world and function as a digital storage brand. We have consumer products in Japan, China, Netherlands and the US. We also have a 24/7 delivery service for industrial solutions mainly for industrial storage, do hardware and firmware design, around 240 patent applications, write our own source codes, deliver flash memory modules like SSD, Sata, USB, etc. Our software also provides solutions for extreme environments, data security. We also have tons of partners who have been with us for a number of years including providing solutions for offshore rigs. We currently are the 8th largest provider of SSD’s in the world and number one in industrial applications.”

Visualizers

Aver Information Inc’s Raver Jocson says “We are a global communication and audio visual technology company. In this age of technology, meetings and collaborations are not the same. Teleconference, audio issues, we all had problems with that before, we still experience that. As systems integrators we want that not to happen so we partner with different providers and platforms to help make the most of your investments be future proof.”

Smart Factory Monitoring Solutions

Industrialization and automation technology is the name of the game with Joyce Yeh’s of ICP DAS. She discussed “Keys to Build Smart Factories and key data needs automation solutions. We apply machine, networking, energy management solutions so your production costs go down. We also have sensing solutions, recording systems in food factories, smart farming, breeding and food processing. We also build Smart Control Centers so you can manage these well. We also have IoT Cloud Software for private and public cloud, sensor data import analysis, so you can look at information real time. We also can integrate with mobile applications in our cloud solutions. You may look up the ICP DAS website for more information. They supply hardware and software solutions, and have local partners to operate and analyze it.”

The Transport Sector

Senior Product Vice President Don Yu introduced IEI Integration, a company based in Taiwan. They have been in the industry since 1997. They work in aerospace and military industries, includes 3200 employees all over the world and plans to do more work in AI. From consumer retail, Health, everything around us, the have experience in providing adept solutions and use Intel technologies. They also have IEI AI Inference Solutions and apply this on Smart Transportation technologies as well. They also use AI for Smart City solutions and City Surveillance, making it easier to manage communities using proprietary technologies. They not only capture data, they also can modify AI solutions (even facial recognition) and integrate it in some existing software and solutions.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and if you’re raring to avail these services or technologies, you can identify it with the Taiwan Excellence seal so you’re sure to get only the best. Hopefully the Philippines gets inspired with what they’ve done, we just can’t be left behind.

The Stylish and Productive ASUS VivoBook 14 X412

The working class, blue collared joe always wants something that gets the job done. How hard is that? Well, if it is allowed and permitted, a good looking machine wouldn't hurt too right? It's why the ASUS VivoBook 14 X412 comes to the picture. 

It's one of ASUS' nicest laptops to boot, it performs well on office functions, so you can make those reports your boss needs when he needs it, when he wants it done fast. These days, you can't really just put the blame on internet connection because part of the fault falls on your machine. What makes the ASUS VivoBook 14 X412 different though?

This just wreaks the vibe of a young professional, for those who would love a balance between work and fun. It's powerful for those graphic work, office processing you do on regular days. It's super light that you can take it anywhere, even on a trip and if you suddenly have some work to finish while you're on vacation (of course it happens!). At 1.5 KG, it's one of the lightest in the market and I feel like I'm just carrying an extra powerbank when I have it inside my backpack. 

The four sided nano edge display gets me around 87% screen to body ratio and the FHD display also gives me 178 degree wide viewing angle. If you think about it, those online games, movies and KDrama which you love would look so good on this machine if you're fond of that. It's also got blue light reduction, so you can watch more of your media less strain on your eyes when it takes hours to finish one. With the option to also use 256 G SSD and combination 2 TB HDD storage, everything will be faster, response and load times for your files would look instantaneous, the Intel Optane memory helps too.

If you're in the office, don't you feel a little down if you have to send files over the internet when you can just simply pass around a USB drive.... but find out your workmate doesn't have ports at all? This one has USB C 3.1, USB 3.1 Gen 1, USB 2.0, HDMI port and one for your Micro SD Card (especially for your digicams when you need to transfer and store files right?). The SonicMaster technology (which is proprietary for ASUS machines) also gets you clearer sound, not muffled and base infested so your movies, music and games sound like the real thing. It's very secure too with the touchpad armed with a fingerprint sensor and Windows Hello on your camera. Best of all, you have all the time in the world to work on it because of its almost 10 hour battery life, which means you can work on it in the office, take it home, even have breaks in the coffee shop without it going kaput on you, unlike your current one which isn't that dependable right? Right.

Check out our unboxing of the ASUS VivoBook 14 X412, it also has a box and usual power cable with it.

You can believe in the possibilities of the new ASUS VivoBook 14 X412. It's the most dependable ultrabook by ASUS, lightweight, can do what most more expensive notebooks out there in the market but won't disappoint you with its price, it only costs Php 32,995 for the i3 version and about Php 49,995 for the i7 version. You get more bang for the buck for the power you need in this new ASUS VivoBook 14 X412.



You should consider this now.

ORIS Showcases Luxury Pieces at Greenbelt 5

ORIS, the well known luxury brand of Swiss watches originated in the town of Holstein. They’ve been available in the Philippines for a couple of years now and during a very classy evening with gentlemen, ladies from the media converged at Greenbelt 5’s event center for a new campaign they’re launching. All with some pretty and finely crafted watches to boot.

Michael Myer ORIS’ Manager for APAC says “Today we want to talk about water, about forests, it’s where our factory is. Nature is inspiring us, it has been there for more than a hundred years. It is about mechanical watch making, it is affordable but very high quality concentrating on machinery to be a step ahead. Today what hasn’t changed is creating time pieces that are nice and of high quality. This has been our ambition from the start (he showed a watch from 1940’s), we are trying to keep that heritage and make sure to keep this identity going. This is our new story called The Big Crown. It can go to streams, automatic, we have very historic designs including our gold diving watches. We also encourage everyone to go our own way, just like our own company. We also have very special projects for the Baikal Lake, the Pacific Ocean, the Great Barrier Reef, also about matters on over fishing (Oris Blue Whale). We want to share the story so we made boxes, back of watches with plastic from PET bottles. This is our Trilogy set! It is what we do, we also did the Tubbataha years ago. Now Go Your Own Way! Thank you!”

Check out the pieces we saw at the event!